Wasurenai
by FiendisHSerapH
Summary: (ShinoIno) "Never forget what we've been through, never forget me and you." (CH 3-4 ADDED!) Reviews, please!
1. Serendipity

**Wasurenai**   
_Never Forget_

By: FiendisHSerapH 

One - Serendipity

Silence. Serenity. Quiet. Peace. 

It had been like this for this certain person sitting upright on the rock beside the rushing stream... and so it would be the same for the night. Day and night, night and day, it would all just blur into one due to the monotony he'd been undergoing. Not even his position of being cross-legged, hunched as if he's carrying all the sins of this world, and hand lazily placed under his chin ever changed. Believe it or not, he's in meditation as of now... 

Hah, meditation! Such a lame excuse for not wanting to be with the crowd who does nothing but hurt his company. If there would be a word that's fit to describe him, it would be **antisocial**. He had been like that. He never wanted to change... or at least he wanted to try but he couldn't - he **shouldn't** - or he'll just end up locking himself in his shell again. Besides, silence is fun especially when you're alone spending it with nature. In it he felt accepted and unharmed. It's his home; he and the beings inside him are one with it. And speaking of that being... 

What's taking him so long? One more minute of waiting and he'll explode out of worry. He wanted to check where that being is into, but no, he shouldn't as he confirmed earlier in his thoughts. It will just mean pain... and of course, he doesn't want to experience it anymore, again and again. 

Silence... and a faint sigh. 

-----------------------------------

_ "What is she up to now?"   
"I dunno..."   
"She's being weird again." _

Blue-green eyes twinkled as she locked her sight at her target. She knew it's weird for girls to chase these icky creatures, but who cares anyway? She's fascinated with boyish stuff since her life as a ninja began in this academy and being amused is no big deal to fuss about, as she had been believing. Those bimbos! All they cared for is how to beautify themselves. She didn't mean that she doesn't do those things, but doing it like that is too much, gone nuts, overboard! 

"They're the ones insane, not me..." she ended to regain her self-confidence. 

"Easy now, easy..." she mumbled as she hid behind the bushes, eyeing closely the cricket that had stopped to munch slightly on its catch. No sooner, that hopeful voice turned irritated as the target hopped away to a place far from her grasp. 

"Tch, you dreaded creature!" With stealth, she moved closer, and it jumped again. "DARN!" she hissed under her breath and positioned herself anew... and the cricket once more moved away. To cut the redundant story short, the process of jumping-hiding again-almost catching-cursing repeated itself for many times that the girl with cropped flaxen hair, being so much absorbed into getting an acquaintance, lost track of the time and the dimension she was caught into. 

"This will be the end, I swear!" her thoughts spoke as the cricket rested itself on a smooth rock beside a larger one. Water came gushing nearby but heck, the chance is now! In one momentous grab, she was about to snatch the creature that had wasted so much of her time when it jumped higher than before. She looked up, and raised an eyebrow when she saw the insect already perched on an outstretched index finger. That definitely meant another person trying to claim it for his or her own pet, but yeah... she surely was annoyed of that someone who got that darned thing through just a gentle welcoming digit. 

And the next thing she knew was that she's already staring into the sharp, prussian blue eyes of her so-called rival in being an insect master... 

_An acquaintance she wanted? Well, an acquaintance she would get._

-----------------------------------   
**TBC**


	2. Curiosity

**Wasurenai**   
_Never Forget_

By: FiendisHSerapH 

Two - Curiosity

"And who might you be?" 

Her senses (which by that time seemed to have hanged) was 'rebooted' upon hearing the cold and deep voice asking her that sentence. She looked around and realized that the one with that cursed index finger owned it. 

"Uh..." that blank thoughts filler was simultaneously done with observing the other person. As the deep voice implied, he's a he, and it's surprising to know that he's about her age, though his voice seemed to be from a teenager about fifteen years of age. He has spiky brown hair, fair (and note-worthy, flawless) complexion, sharp blue eyes with brows raised half an inch higher than the usual, pointy nose, lips that are pursed into a pondering pout and lean built. His expression was somewhat comical that the girl almost chuckled out loud. Good she had temperance on her cooperative part. 

"Just the _to-be_ owner of that cricket you're stealing." came her straightforward reply hinting annoyance. 

"Weird girl..." the lad eyed the destroyer of his solitude. Pale yellow mane cropped to her cheeks, blue-green eyes battling his on a staring game, round-tipped nose and lips formed on a one-sided smirk. Usually, if you ask for introductions, they'll give you their name of any identifiable word you could call them... but she's weird, definitely. 

"Okay, Miss to-be owner of this cricket, excuse me, but I think this is **my** pet you're talking a---" 

"I don't believe you." the bright-eyed girl immediately objected as she crossed her arms in front of her, never taking her scowl off. 

"Want a proof?" he made some buzzing sounds then called, "Mikuri, saa..." In compliance, the creature jumped up to his left shoulder. The girl still stared, dumb-founded this time. 

"You call that insect by name?" a spark of interest made her eyes glow even livelier, a glow hard to ignore that it took almost half of the lad's concentration. 

"Yes, of course. She is my pet, you see..." he replied in a manner disturbed, probably regretful of sparking the stranger's interest into a blazing fire, because that would surely mean total destruction of peace in his private space. 

"And that's a **she**? How did you know?" the inquisitive lass already found her seat beside him, and that move left him pondering. That is something someone had ever done to him for the first time, his mind registered. If only she knew why he had established such deep relationships with insects... wouldn't she be irked out? 

_I hope she wouldn't. I don't want to..._, his other side mumbled, and that made him questioning his thoughts. He was annoyed with himself, in short. 

"Uh... I just can... can feel it?" he said, slightly unsure under those eyes. 

"You **are** weird." the lass frowned a bit, then looked around. There it went, the sentence he's so afraid of. 

"You're also eccentric." she paused, feeling the soothing wind pass through them and whispering something in the lad's nature-sensitive ear. The note sent him an eyepop. 

_She's the one you've been waiting for..._

With that whisper came the girl's continuation, 

"... but I _like_ that kind of weirdness." He turned back to her and caught the sign he had been waiting for. It's an approval of good tidings for the future, and the signal of the end of his loneliness. 

A heart-warming smile. Who would've known that she'd be having it? Deep inside, he felt cheated for he was the first one who asked for her name and yet she ended up knowing something about him. He felt that he was taken advantage of upon that meeting. 

"Uh, who are...?" 

"Ino! Come back here, you girl. Kakibara-sensei's calling us!" He heard voices coming from the forest of trees, repeating the sentence louder with each repetition. 

"Coming!" The pale-haired girl shouted back. Seh walked ahead a few steps, then turned back to the silent boy and said, "Nice meeting you, and you've won; she's yours. Maybe I'll see you again." 

"I don't know..." The coffee brown-haired boy said, "but I am certain you won't." 

"I can, and I _will_." she uttered the lase statement faintly, for she was already running away from their meeting point. Soon enough, the whole place was deafeningly serene... again. 

And the persistent wind blew, whispering another message to the boy's ear. 

"Hah, we'll see." his hand found Mikuri's miniscule head and lapped it several times. But then, he was bugged by the beings inside him jumping due to a reason who-knows-what. Indeed, it freaked him out. 

-----------------------------------   
**TBC**


	3. Inquiries

**Wasurenai**   
_Never Forget_

By: FiendisHSerapH 

Three - Inquiries

Aburames are known to be a group of mysterious yet powerful people. They develop their strengths in stealth in fear of someone discovering what their ancesral ecret it. But no matter how hard they tried to conceal it, their contenders have been witnessing their unique killing style anyway, and that is slaughter using insects. May it be a spider, a worm, or even a simple butterfly, they have the power to manipulate them and let these creatures follow their every command. Aside from this, they also have the strength of knowing every impending event there is, may it be for the good or for the bad outcome. Due to these queer abilities, they don't need to hide themselves from the over-curious crowd; people withdraw themselves upon their presence. Yes, they do, no matter how attractive or influential their personalities are. 

He knew it, and he accepted the fact that his clan is a bunch of freaks according to many people's perceptin. He had been shunning the crowd to avoid this _repelling_ thing, which surely wil be a hurting memory for an eight-year old like him to have. 

He lay on his bed, thiking so hard on this fate the gods had blessed their clan. He thoughts that he would be alone for forever, and that no one would ever dare to aporach that lad sitting on a rock beside the rushing stream. 

But she did... surprisingly. 

It would be even weirder if he'd admit that he hates having friends. In fact, he thought that it's the only thing lacking in him. And the wind's message... was it something for him to believe immediately? He had trusted the all-knowing breeze in guiding him to the right direction. He always had depended on it on every decision he had to go through. That's another power of the Aburames that made them unique - and even weirder - from the normal crowd. But this choice... was the winds fooling him? Making him turn three hundred-sixty degrees from his normal path of solitude? Perhaps he knew and perhaps he don't. But... but that girl's smile. Upon seeing that, he was encaptured by something warm in his heart, which was indeed so rare to happen. For all he knew was silence and the coldness of serenity... and to admit it, he doesn't even know if this is the real tranquility in one's heart that he's experiencing. _He's just abiding by the ancestral rule._ That move made him feel so welcomed, so warm, so _special_. 

And in a way, he concluded that some of the frost in his heart melted, though doubt of refuting still ruled. 

"I'll see you again." 

Maybe it's deep in him, but something scream that he _wanted_ to see her again. there's this voice telling him that it's just an accident, and she won't be able to meet him, because she is one of _them_. One of _them_. 

But then, she told it herself. She will see him again. She can and she will. 

_Is holding on to someone's promise bad?_ The wind couldn't answer him this time for he already drifted into nothingness... and closed the meandering of his soul, not knowing the real answer. 

-----------------------------------

Scratch, scratch, and there went the pouring of alcohol onto a palm. Rub, rub... then scratch. 

"ARRGH! I HATE RASHES!" the round-nosed girl screeched as she bolted up from her bed. She reached out again for the bottle of disinfectant and applied it liberally on her forearms. Maybe it was because of chasing that silly cricket on the grass. Or because of bugs. As far as she could remember, she's allergic to them... but she didn't come across any earlier, just a cricket. What harm could that bring? 

Come to think of it, a cricket is also a bug. Stupid, she scolded herself. 

She haven't met someone new for a long time except for that boy earlier this afternoon. 

She should say that he's weird in his own special way because it's the only thing she could describe of him. Needless to say, she was intrigued of that lad, being all so quiet and alone. How could he stay like that for almost everyday? Was he not getting bored? She lay on her bed and looked up to the ceiling. She wondered if that guy has many friends. Is he a student ninja like her studying in the ninja academy? Of course he is, for he won't be here if he isn't. Or maybe he is from another place, a nearby town maybe. She hoped he isn't because she wanted to see him again, being more curious as each second passed by. 

This is no joke.   
Besides, the same old crowd everyday is getting boring. It's time for her to meed a new friend, she supposed. 

_Is he kind?_, that was the first thing she thought, for he seemed t be somewhat snobbish and... freaky. He hated company of others. what could be drawing her to him? She was overly-engrossed on thinking about his behavior, his characteristics, and not to mention his... 

... his name. 

**HIS NAME!**

How in the world will she search for him if she doesn't know what he is called?! For one moment, she scolded herself again for now even knowing that basic statistic. And she also promised that _she will see him again_. If it weren't a promise, then she won't worry this big. 

_Yawn_

She's not good at breaking promises, so she should find a way to solve this and know him. How? Maybe sleep could give her an idea. But nonetheless, she should. She should mark her words... 

**... because that is a Yamanaka's way.**

-----------------------------------   
**TBC**


	4. Search

**Wasurenai**  
_Never Forget_

By: FiendisHSerapH 

Four - Search

"Good morning, bug boy!" 

The voice, loud and scandalous, boomed behind the boy sitting on a huge, white rock just as he always does. Energetic barking followed suit. The lad whose name was called out simply fixed his coffee-brown hair as he looked sidewards and asked flatly, 

"What are you doing here, _Inu-baka_?"  
"Running out of questions to ask, _Meshi-chan_?" a naughty grin followed the teasing statement.  
No words followed. Everything was still silent as the winds blew vehemently, implying the emotion blatantly ignored by the mocker. 

"Like I do have something to ask about."  
His plan of chasing dogs away worked when the voice grunted and answered sarcastically, "AH YES, just in case you are interested, you're the only missing person in our class. You are twenty minutes late and I am here to escort you, _Your Highness_, to your palace." the addressing terms were stated with harsh contempt. 

The guy didn't budge. 

"ARGH!" Arms flailed up to the air in surrender. "Come on, Akamaru. There are more things to fuss about than this sore loser." A whelp ensued, and footsteps trailing faint and fainter ended the discourse. 

In the young lad's mind, something big is going to happen, and it will deem attending classes for today useless. 

-----------------------------------

"_OHAYOU, INO-HIME-CHAN!_" 

The voice, and the same voice that had disturbed someone's solitude earlier, greeted cheerfully.  
"Growing lovelier each day, hmm?"  
"Quit that morning nonsense, _Kiba-kun_." a girl wearing an orange sweatshirt and brown pants cropped to her knees plopped on the grass where many of her peers also sat down while waiting for their _sensei_ to come back. 

"So... what's in here?" she mildly inquired, eyeing her group composed of a hooded boy with a white puppy and facepaint residing on each cheek, a girl with cherry blossoms-colored hair which true enough was the reference for her name, and another sweet-tempered girl with two lumps of brown hair tied neatly on each side of her head like two meatbuns.  
"Nothing much, except for a freak who doesn't want to go to class." the guy named Kiba grumped.  
"Huh? How could he miss our test? Who is he?" the flaxen-haired girl pouted, looking up at the bright blue sky and the northeasternly sun with an upside palm shading her eyes.  
"Yes, sensei told us that it's an important exam." the other girl wearing a green Chinese-collared shirt sliced in.  
"Someone you wouldn't mind talking about. He's a sore loser anyway." he paused and also sat down on the dewy grass just like everybody else.  
"How does he look like anyway?" Blue-green eyes fixated on a gray hood as it was asked.  
"Hm... for your safety, better avoid a guy with a gray shirt, purple turtleneck underneath it, and black cropped pants. He has messy brown hair that looked like as if he don't comb his hair well." The descriptions left those eyes wondering and thinking hard.  
Kiba looked around for a while in caution that their topic might be somewhere there, and after that, instantly intoned; 

"Say, Ino... you have a new necklace again?"  
"Ah yes." she in turn fiddled the silver hoop encircling her neck. "Does it look good on me?"  
"It's great." the sweet-tempered girl replied with a nod.  
"Thanks, Ten-ten." that remark from the orange-clad lass left the appraised girl blushing slightly.  
"EVERYTHING looks good on you, Ino-chan!" a bark affirmed the said sentence.  
"Quit that flattery, will you? Ne, how about you, Sakura?"  
Spring green eyes looked up at her and nodded shortly.  
"Hey hey, I saw that pause!" she beamed, sticking her pink tongue out. The other two laughed, making the day bright in their own simple way.  
"Arf arf!" Akamaru barked out.  
"What? It will rain? Your smelling isn't good today, ne, Akamaru-chan?"  
Another set of barks followed, and Kiba paid close attention as if he's talking to a real human.  
"It won't. It's a great day today..." he pointed to the warm sun, "See?" 

"Good morning, kids." Kakibara-sensei greeted. "Before we go on with our test, I need to check the attendance." she flipped her record book twice, then started, "Aburame Shino?'  
"Aburame Shino's not here, sensei. Probably out in the woods, down in the mudpool, playing with bugs again. Or perhaps he's already eaten by a frog."  
Kiba's dramatic explanation sent giggles and even a loud chuckle from the batch's blond loudmouth, Naruto-chan.  
Upon sitting down, Ino asked, "What do you mean playing with bugs?"  
"HAVEN'T YOU KNOWN?!" that inquiry left Kiba's eyes wide open, as if not knowing that meant missing half of someone's life. "That guy's got a bad talent. Real bad. Don't mess around with him that much or his bugs will eat you alive. He's from the termed dangerous clan of the Aburames with bugs thriving in their bodies!"  
"YUCK!" Ten-ten made a disgusted face, then laughed. Kiba followed suit. But Ino didn't join the fun, and instead frowned. 

"I... Ino-chan?" Sakura whispered as she saw the annoyed expression on her friend's face.  
"I may not know or even saw him but I won't have the shallowness to tease him like that without him knowing." she stated sternly and the laughter died down. The two stared still.  
"The boy's silent, but who knows that his real traits are? Like..."  
"Hm? Like... what?" Kiba raised an eyebrow, never removing his impish grin.  
"Like... he can be good or something."  
"Good..." strains of laughter started. "THAT'S A GOOD ONE!" Kiba's sides were splitting with heavy idiotic laughter. The flaxen-haired girl just said, "Hmmmph!" then turned away from his direction, and Ten-ten poked the laughing guy hard on the chest. Upon getting what that meant, he just removed his hood and muttered, "So--rry." and rolled his eyes. 

-----------------------------------

"That's why we are all here." Kakibara-sensei ended. "To test on your actual Taijutsu."  
"Ino-chan, we're partners!" Kiba jumped about in sheer joy.  
"Dumb, aren't we? You're enemies and you'll be fighting each other." Ten-ten cleared it all for the overly-ecstatic boy. "Too bad I was paired with that Neji weirdo... hm, he's pretty cute anyway."  
"Sakura, who's your partner?" Ino asked. The pink-haired lass pointed to the lazy guy under the tree, snoring his day off. Ino sniggered while forming the word, "Shikamaru..."  
"Pretty lucky, huh?" she nudged her side, then turned to look around. _That guy really didn't go to class, eh?_, she thought. Perhaps she could volunteer to fetch him up right now... why is she worrying like this over that... Aburame Shino, was it? 

"Too good, it turned cloudy. Not that... hot." Kakibara-sensei's voice was washed away by a sudden gush of water. 

IT'S RAINING! 

Everyone took refuge inside a small cave near that area.  
"Hmmm, seems like we can't go on with the test today." the teacher shrugged, "You kids sure are lucky."  
Hollers of cheer are heard, except for Kiba who pouted and groaned sadly.  
"Yes, he still has a chance!" Ino grinned to herself, showing an energetic smile.  
"Ino-chan, you seem happy?" Sakura tapped her gently.  
"Sakura, he still has a chance!" She held the pink-haired girl's hands and squeezed it lightly.  
"Who?" Green eyes stared, wondering.  
"Oh... none. _Gomen_." Ino stuck her tongue out and bluffed. 

-----------------------------------

"Maybe I should let him know of what happened today." she told herself while running as fast as she could to her home despite the mild rainfall. But, where she should start the search? Her question was answered when she saw a guy in a flax jacket standing beside a tako stall. 

"Excuse me, mister..."  
"Uh... Iruka-sensei, do you know something about the Aburames? Like, where do they live?" the lass' blue-green eyes was fixed on his form.  
"Where they live? It's a mystery, little girl. But I know one who lives straight ahead, look at the right side of the road upon turning left around that corner and..."  
"THANKS, SIR!" Before he knew it, the girl darted away.  
"That is Yamanaka Inoshi's daughter, right?" the stallowner asked.  
"Do the Yamanakas have any business concerning the Aburames?" he muttered, but as he looked down, he almost shouted in dismay. His jacket's already stained with tako sauce!  
"How will I wash this thing in this weather?" went his second wonder. 

-----------------------------------

"Nowhere... I looked everywhere." she breathlessly muttered as she dragged her whole body to the entrance of their home. True enough, she followed what Iruka-sensei instructed but found the house shaded with leafy trees locked. Besides, it shot her nerves even to just walk closer to have a clearer look. And the rain seemed to be angry that it poured heavily and she was still two kilometers away from her home. She ran despite tired feet and now...  
"Do you want to get sick?" her mother scolded as she towel-dried her daughter's pale-yellow hair limp with rainwater.  
"Hmm... maybe." she muttered while drinking some hot milk.  
"Rest for a while." Ino's mother had only turned away for a few seconds when she heard the door open.  
"INO! Where are you going now?!" she shouted upon seeing the girl go back to the cold outdoors bringing a black umbrella with her.  
"I'll be buying some milk, mom!" she yelled, but the sound of raindrops plus the loud crack of thunder and lightning drowned it.  
The fair lady checked on the container upon going back inside the house. Indeed, it's all empty.  
"Tch, that kid..." she beamed while swaying her head from side to side. 

-----------------------------------

"This rain is not getting any better." she walked along the woods on the way back from the convenience store. Just then, she was reminded of that Aburame Shino lad, and that guy whom she had met three days ago beside the stream gushing lively just like this one. How will she find him if she doesn'teven know his name? In fact, she had more possiblity of finding that so-called bug boy than she had with that cricket-owning stranger. How could she be reminded of him only now, now when the probability of looking for him is low due to this silly downpour? She walked and walked, trying to focus her mind on the task at hand which is to go home before the rain get any heavier. She walked beside the river that was about to overflow when she noticed something. 

Someone sitting by the riverbank, soaked yet still not moving. 

The low fog was disrupting her view so she walked closer to see more clearly. The guy has brown hair swept down by the rain, gray soaked shirt with a purple turtleneck underneath... wait, she called to herself, these are the exact descriptions Kiba had given to that Aburame Shino lad. She inched forward, and saw what he was busy at. 

He's busy giving a grasshopper a shelter... using his own hand. 

What kind of an idiot would stay under the rain just to protect a creature, and not even giving himself some shelter?  
But later, she realized that she had already admired this heroic deed.  
No time to lose. 

Half-expectant that this is the Shino Kiba was pertaining to, she whispered his name while giving him his well-deserved shelter from the heavy downpour. 

"Aburame... Shino?"  
Indeed, the boy's head slowly turned to her direction, and what shocked her the most was... 

She was again staring at those sharp, prussian blue eyes...  
... the same eyes as that of the cricket owner's! 

her heart leapt from her chest. This is when the saying, "Watching kettles while being heated do not boil." was affirmed. 

The boy found himself staring open-mouthedly at the girl, disbelieving what he had seen. _Holding on to someone's promise isn't bad after all_. 

"You found me..." he mumbled, a smile unconsciously breaking through his already pallid lips.  
"I found you... I told you I'll find you. I can and I did." was all she uttered. 

She felt like she had done more than buying milk today, thanks to the rain. 

-----------------------------------  
**Liked it? Hated it? The continuation depends on your reviews!**


End file.
